


The Veils Over Other's Eyes

by DBSommer



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:33:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DBSommer/pseuds/DBSommer
Summary: Inspired by 'The Masks We Must Wear' by Bob Barnes. Nothing is what it seems in Nerima
Kudos: 3





	The Veils Over Other's Eyes

The Veils Placed Over Others’ Eyes

By D.B. Sommer  
Any and all C+C appreciated

Needless to say, this was inspired by ‘The Masks We Must Wear’ by Bob Barnes and ‘Tangled Web’ by Gary Kleppe, as well as the other spin-off’s that were done.

Standard disclaimer:  
I disclaim I own any of these characters. They belong to the Goddess Takahashi and whomever she sold the rights to.

[THIS ONE IS HEAVY IN THE LIME, ALMOST A LEMON, BUT NOT THAT DESCRIPTIVE.]

“Truth? Truth is a subjective concept at the best of times. It can be twisted and made to serve what purpose you want. Those that profess to know it are the ones you should trust the least.” –Solomon Prey

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The heat was picking up as the afternoon progressed. The summer months could be the worst once the humidity rose to an almost unbearable degree. It was on one of the streets that Akane and Ranma were walking at a slow pace.

“It sure is hot,” Ranma commented as he mopped the sweat off his brow.

“Well, that was certainly original!” Akane retorted.

Ranma paused in his walk. “What’s wrong with you now?”

Akane stopped also, scowling at him. “As if you didn’t know! How could you let me get kidnapped again? That was the fourth time in the last six months!”

“How the heck is it my fault that a bunch of stupid guys want to marry a dumb old tomboy anyway?”

“You’re supposed to protect me. What kind of a life are we going to live if you let every lunatic that calls himself a prince cart me off every other week?”

Ranma began shouting back. “Defeating Terick wasn’t easy! There were some rough spots here and there!” Actually, the self proclaimed High Lord, Terick Shoi, had nearly managed to kill Ranma. Only the battle against Saffron had been worse.

Surprisingly, Akane downplayed it. “Come off it, Ranma. You win in the end. You always win. Even if someone gets a lucky break and beats you, you always bounce back and take them in the end.”

“Yeah, well, of course. But it still ain’t easy.”

Akane seemed to relent a bit. “Okay. Thanks for saving me from the nutcase.”

Whatever else was going to be said was cut off by the ringing of a bicycle bell and a mighty “NIHAO!!!” which was followed by an Amazonian glomp on Ranma.

“Get off of me, you crazy Amazon!”

“You take Shampoo out on date, yes?”

“NO!!!”

“I see how it is!” Akane had grabbed a bucket of cold water from who knew where. “You rescue me one day and come onto Shampoo the next! I wouldn’t want to spoil your fun! You two have a good time, and here’s some water to send you on your way!”

Within seconds of contact from the liquid, Ranma-chan felt the still glomping cat on the back of her head. A scream of “CCCCCCCAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT!!!” filled the air as she took off at top speed, failing to dislodge the feline that remained on her perch.

“Serves you right, jerk!” Akane mumbled. 

Akane spotted Ukyou, spatula drawn, on the street in the opposite direction Ranma-chan had just fled. Apparently the chef decided pursuit would be a waste of time and left without a word.

Akane stared back in the direction the duo had gone long enough for the dust to settle when a chain wrapped her up from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. Instantly she tried to struggle out of the tight embrace, but it was all to no avail. The chain held fast.

“Not again,” she growled.

“I have you at last, Ranma Saotome!” Mousse shouted out proudly.

“I am not that pervert, you blind twit!”

“You’ll never take Shampoo from me!”

“I’m not Ranma and I don’t want Shampoo! I’m Akane.”

Mousse adjusted his glasses, trying to get a better look at his victim. “You think throwing on a wig and making your voice higher is going to save you? Don’t be stupid. Who do you think you’re dealing with, Ryouga? I won’t fall for that pathetic trick!”

“Ryouga is a heck of a lot better than you are, you idiotic waterfowl! Put me down before I get really angry!”

“Your threats mean nothing to me, Saotome.” And with that he hooked Akane under his arm and leaped off across the rooftops, laughing almost as hard as Kodachi.

From the roof of one of the nearby buildings, Cologne sighed. Another typical day in Nerima. Her great-granddaughter screwed up once more and Mousse was going to have the living crap beaten out of him by Akane, just like the other times he grabbed her. Odd how his survival instincts hadn’t kicked in yet.

Mousse really needed a new prescription. He had abducted Nabiki twice, Ukyou three times, Ryouga once, and Akane a whopping seven times in his efforts to snare Ranma. The poor fool never even came close.

A second sigh escaped her lips as she recalled events from no more than two hours ago…

Cologne entered the kitchen to see Shampoo humming to herself as she made a batch of ramen. Taking a chance, Cologne looked over the ingredients on the counter next to the stove. 

“Shampoo, what are you doing?” 

“I make ramen for Ranma,” she sighed dreamily.

The elder picked up a bottle next to the stove. “You’re using the mind-control herbs again.”

Shampoo nodded enthusiastically. “I make Ranma admit he loves me this time and we can get married.” 

Cologne took a deep breath to calm herself. If she could maintain a stoic face and emotionless voice with the council she could do it with her own great granddaughter. “Shampoo, those magic potions do nothing but backfire and alienate Ranma from you and even if it does work it’ll only be temporary. Once it wears off he’ll dislike you even more. Don’t use them.”

Shampoo shook her head. “It will work this time. And once Ranma admits feelings to himself, Ranma can admit them to everyone else. And then Shampoo can hug him and he’ll kiss Sham—“

Cologne cut off the fantasy that was starting to take root as her temper really started to fray. This was the same conversation she had had with Shampoo a dozen times. “He won’t admit he loves you until he actually does. Until you change the way you act around him you are never going to win his heart. It’s like when you embrace him. You know how much he hates it so why do you keep doing it?”

“Ranma always happy to see Shampoo,” Shampoo said, as though confused about what her great grandmother was talking about. “Ranma shout out enthusiastically when Shampoo grab him.”

“ARE YOU STUPID?!!! HE”S YELLING AT YOU TO LET HIM GO!!!” Cologne thanked the gods no other elders were around to see her lose her temper with one so young. 

“Ranma only do that so Akane no hit him.”

Cologne decided to switch tactics. “Would you please start using personal pronouns. You’ve been in this country for nearly a year and you still haven’t improved your language skills since the first few months. How long can it take to learn saying I, me, he, she, and words like that?”

“It very hard to learn all that.”

The elder took a deep breath. “It’s not that hard once you master the basics. Even Mousse speaks the tongue fluently and you’re a lot smarter than him.” 

Cologne was beginning to wonder about that. Early on Shampoo had seemed very bright and attentive, it was one of the reason she was happy to choose Shampoo as her successor and the future leader of the tribe, but in the last three years or so that normally bright attentiveness was replaced by an almost vacuous distance. The purple-haired girl began acting irrationally and had difficulty learning new things. At first she was afraid Shampoo had been struck in the head and was brain damaged, but a careful examination that was physical, magical, and with chi discovered nothing out of sorts. Whatever had changed Shampoo was a part of her. She still could learn things, but it seemed to take her forever, and she just couldn’t seem to figure out how to handle Ranma. 

Hypnotic mushrooms had been worth trying once, but after Ranma’s vehement protests over the treatment, Shampoo should have apologized and tried to make restitution to him. Given the boy’s weakness around girls he would have accepted it and things would have snapped back to normal. Instead she tried those tactics several times, and in each instance it backfired and angered Ranma. Then there was the glomping. It was painfully obvious he despised being jumped on and embraced, yet Shampoo seemed to ignore the signs and continued as though it would somehow bring her closer to Ranma instead of increasing the distance even more. She was never going to win the boy over at the rate she was going. 

The other fiancees were no better. Kodachi’s unbalanced behavior or Ukyou’s subtle manipulations were far from winning Ranma over, but for some odd reason the boy had taken a shining to the Tendo girl, never mind the fact she beat him regularly enough to make even the stern elder cringe. As often as he put his foot in his mouth even he didn’t deserve to be smacked around like that. Cologne doubted if he enjoyed the beatings. She had seen him several times after Akane had ‘dismissed’ him for some wrong, real or imagined, and he always seemed horribly saddened by the girl’s actions, yet he always went back to her. There was no doubt in her mind if the boy chose Akane their relationship was going to have a bitter end.

She concentrated on the matter at hand, keeping control of her chi. She went to Happosai for an example at control. If she could tolerate his perversions she could be patient with her great granddaughter. “Since everything you’ve done has failed so far, why don’t we try a different tactic? Try just talking to him. Ask him how he’s feeling without hanging all over him. You might be surprised at the results.”

Shampoo openly thought about it and decided to try Cologne’s idea. At least she said she would. 

But Shampoo botched it up again. She glomped tight onto him as soon as he was in sight, and when Akane turned her into a cat, rather than running away from Ranma so he wouldn’t go into a panic attack, she held onto him even tighter, the stupid girl. She was never going to lead the village the way she was going. At least she hadn’t tried to kill Akane since that fight with Tarou. In fact, Shampoo had gone so far as to save her during the Kunou’s Phoenix incident. That at least put her on good ground with Ranma. Too bad she had to help bomb the wedding.

Perhaps it was time to go home. Japan was having an undesirable effect on Shampoo’s training and she was becoming more foolish as time went on. If that continued the consequences would be grim. They could just live with the dishonor of leaving Ranma behind, but that made Shampoo’s path to the leadership all the more difficult, nearly impossible in fact. ‘Retraining’ in Jusenkyou was bad enough, but the things Shampoo would have to do to regain her honor would be nearly impossible. No. Not an acceptable solution.

That left one of two other courses of action. One was have someone defeat Ranma for Shampoo’s hand. Ryouga would be a likely contender. All it would take is Shampoo showing a little affection towards him and the lost one would end up wrapped around her little finger. Then Cologne would set up Ranma to take a fall, either hit him in a weakness point while he slept or hit Ryouga with the Aggression Point then have the fight occur. Either one was a near guarantee of victory. If Ryouga wasn’t used then it would be someone else who was powerful. Mousse was a totally unacceptable solution. Aside from the fact she despised his family with a rage that could barely be contained, the boy was the equivalent of the village idiot. 

Cologne was not about to lose all that she had gained. Shampoo was going to lead the village no matter what. It would not be lost. She put hundreds of years of work into raising the weakest family in the village to the strongest one, and the reins of power would not pass from it in her lifetime. Once Shampoo was leader and married there would be no chance of that. However, if Shampoo didn’t change her ways she was never going to win Ranma and take him back to China (and if the two married he was going to come; Shampoo had to go back no matter what), drastic steps would have to be taken. There was a surefire way to get Ranma to love Shampoo no matter what, but it would result in an early death for him. The alternative was a way to give a boost to Shampoo’s intelligence so she could become smarter and realize how she should go about winning Ranma and start taking her role as the next village matriarch more seriously. The problem with the method was that it would take close to four months and might leave her a little… unbalanced. Just a tad, really. Oh well. Sometimes you had to break a few eggs to get the job done.

Cologne took several minutes of meditation to bring her blood pressure down. It was becoming obvious her great-granddaughter was a complete moron. Well, not complete, just very foolish in understanding. Yes. That course just might have to be taken. Cologne was not going to last long enough to see her only great granddaughter’s children grow old enough to take on the role of matriarch. If nothing changed she would have to take those steps. In about three months time, by her reckoning.

She was too tense. There was only one thing left to do to relax her. Only one course of action to take. If any of the elders back home caught wind of what she was doing she would lose some honor. It was supposed to be desirable to become an elder and their appearance was a mark of great respect, as though looking like a dried up troll was desirable. She went to her room and undid the magic seals on her chest. No one, not even Shampoo, could open it. She grabbed her bag and left the Nekohanten via the roof. Even if someone saw her they would assume she was cooking up some plan to help or marry Ranma. No one would suspect the truth. 

She made certain she was well away from Nerima, not that anyone would recognize her anyway, before coming to a stop. Once she was out of sight on a high rooftop she took off her short dress. Maybe she didn’t have to worry about being noticed. Anyone seeing her now would be struck blind anyway, at least at the moment. She went into the bag and pulled out a vial of water and quickly threw it over her head. Now only Happosai, and perhaps the others that went through the Nanban mirror, would recognize the statuesque blue haired woman that stood before them. Instant Nyanniichuan really worked miracles. Using it in this fashion was considered unbecoming to a venerable elder, but there were times when one needed to throw propriety out the window, and it wasn’t as though anyone knew what she was doing. Quickly she donned the halter top and short mini-skirt that made up her outfit. Short white boots completed the look as she tied her long hair back in a different style than what she used so long ago. Even Happosai wouldn’t recognize her now. 

She leaped down off the roof and went up to the door. The club was nowhere near as busy now as it was during the evening, but she needed to do it. The bouncer recognized her immediately and gave a smile as she went in. The bartender waved happily as she sat down at the bar and gave her the usual. As she suspected, it was only a minute before a handsome looking fellow approached her and began small talk. She let him go on for about fifteen minutes before she cut to the chase.

“Let’s go back to your place.”

They never resisted that one. It was nice to know she still had the touch.

Ukyou returned to her restaurant, disgusted with Ranma’s actions for the day. If he wanted to hang around the bimbo, fine. She had better things to do. A smile softened on her lips as she entered her establishment and saw that there was already a guest present. 

“You let yourself in?” Ukyou asked as she made her way into her restaurant. 

Nabiki Tendo nodded her head. “Yes. I have a very important proposition to make.”

Ukyou locked the door to the front. After finishing that she approached Nabiki, circling around her like a shark smelling blood. “What sort of a proposition?”

“A merger.”

“I see,” Ukyou said as she stopped in front of Nabiki at last. “I thought we already had one.”

“Not like this,” Nabiki said seriously. “I mean a more lasting one. One involving a long term commitment. One that can become official once you are finished doing what you have to do.”

“That’s quite a step you’re proposing. Being in a merger means I lose some of my independence.”

“The same holds for me,” Nabiki reminded her.

Ukyou shook her head at that. “Does it? I know how much you like being in control. Are you really willing to give up some of that which you so carefully guard?”

Nabiki nodded. “I trust you not to take advantage of me.”

Ukyou smiled at that. “I’ll need to think about it. I think it’s a bigger step for me than you believe. At any rate, I’ll need some sign of your good faith.” Ukyou moved closer as she said that.

“What do you propose?” Nabiki asked, fairly certain she already knew the answer.

Ukyou drew her face next to Nabiki’s, leaving no more than a centimeter between the two. “A kiss.” And with that she brought her lips together with the middle Tendo daughter. Both of them opened their mouths and allowed their tongues to intertwine with one another for what felt like a year. Ukyou was the first to break off the contact.

“I’m hungry,” she said as she brought her hands up under Nabiki’s skirt and proceeded to hike the dress up.

“What did you have in mind?” Nabiki said as she raised her arms and allowed the dress to be lifted over her head and thrown in a heap on the floor. She stood clad simply in a white bra and panties She tried to save Ukyou some time as she moved her hands behind her to undo the clasp on the back of her bra. 

“Damn thing’s stuck,” she growled as she continued struggling with it.

“Allow me.” Ukyou held one of her mini-spatula’s before her and arced it downward, slicing through the front of the bra without touching Nabiki’s flesh. The front of it opened, allowing Ukyou full access to Nabiki’s breasts.

“You’re paying for that,” Nabiki warned while smiling the entire time. Little displays like that always turned her on. It was a surprise that Ukyou placed a hand around Nabiki’s waist and pulled her forward. 

“Well if that’s the case why don’t we go for a complete set,” Ukyou said as her hands trailed around to Nabiki’s bottom and she grabbed the white panties, ripping them clean off. 

Now Ukyou stood, still fully clothed, while clutching the now nude Nabiki. The middle Tendo was surprised yet again as Ukyou effortlessly changed her grip and lifted Nabiki, almost as though she was weightless. 

“Time for dinner,” Ukyou said as she made her way to the grill. “My taste is running towards something rather exotic, I think.”

“You still haven’t told me what you’re in the mood for,” Nabiki purred seductively in Ukyou’s ear.

“A Tendo style okonomiyaki, with everything on it.” Quickly Ukyou made her way to the turned off grill and placed her burden on the metal surface. She reached under the counter and began pulling out the ingredients, setting them in their proper places as she made ready to prepare the cuisine.

Nabiki remained prone as the ingredients were slowly poured. This was a new one, and it was quickly proving itself to be quite enjoyable. Ukyou poured sauce over the front of her body, the liquid creeping into places where no one other than the okonomiyaki chef was allowed to go. More ingredients followed as they were placed over the entirety of her form, making quite the mess. After Ukyou set down everything she wanted, twin spatulas were out in a flash. Much to Nabiki’s enjoyment, Ukyou danced around the surface of her body, touching all of the right spots while occasionally ‘sampling’ things with her tongue to make sure it was being prepared properly. Ukyou was relentless as she played the small pieces of metal all over her body. The moves felt too flawless, leaving Nabiki to silently wonder where Ukyou had learned this particular skill. 

After nearly twenty minutes and two orgasms for the prone girl, Ukyou at last crawled upon the grill, still fully clothed, and rested on her hands and knees while staring at Nabiki from between the ‘meal’s’ legs. 

“What are you going to do now?” Nabiki breathed as she came down from the previous high.

“I told you,” Ukyou reminded her. “I’m hungry. Now I’m going to eat.”

Ukyou lunged forward and began doing exactly that. Nabiki allowed her mind to go back to how this all had began before her thoughts could be interrupted…

Nabiki had received word that some guy at an all boy’s school was looking for Ranma Saotome and was willing to pay good money for it. Nabiki arranged a meeting at a restaurant near the boy’s school to discuss the amount of money the information might be worth. Nabiki was more than pleasantly surprised to see a rather handsome fellow waiting for her in the reserved booth. Introductions were made and the two began to talk business.

It was the usual story, someone wanted to beat the crap out of Ranma for ‘personal’ reasons. Nabiki was pleased that Ukyou was very civilized and polite in his manners, two things most people around her lacked. As the two concluded their talk Ukyou finally asked a question.

“Want to go out?”

Nabiki sized up the boy once more. He had potential, but he was going to have to impress her better than that. “Why would you ask a girl like me out?” Nabiki knew what was going to come next. Some remark about how attractive and irresistible she was and how the boy could impress her like no other, not that too many guys tried it on her. Not with her reputation as an ice queen.

“You seem pretty intelligent and aren’t afraid to show it. I admire those qualities in a woman.”

Nabiki was more than pleasantly surprised by the statement. She knew her head shouldn’t have been turned by such flattery, but she just couldn’t help herself. “It’s on you?” 

“Of course.” 

Ukyou gave a smile that really caused Nabiki to swoon inside. She always did have a weakness for guys with androgynous faces like that. Despite her attraction she played it cool and the two set out for some dancing and ice cream afterwards. During the entire time Nabiki found herself enjoying Ukyou’s company more and more. He was charming, attentive, forceful but not arrogant, intelligent, and seemed to admire Nabiki for who she was, not what she looked like. At the end of the date the two exchanged a deep, and for Nabiki, a surprisingly passionate kiss.

“Do you want to go out tomorrow?” Ukyou asked as he came up for air.

Nabiki continued playing it cool. Just because she liked the guy was no reason to loose control. She pretended to seriously consider it before saying yes. She did stipulate Ukyou should pay for everything, which sat fine with him. The two went out the next night and the night after that. Nabiki thanked the kami for meeting someone like Ukyou. All the boys at her school were jerks or morons, or in Kunou’s case both, but Ukyou wasn’t like that at all. He didn’t stare at Nabiki’s chest or grin lasciviously at her. He spoke intelligently and demonstrated a remarkable amount of class towards her. He enjoyed her displays of intelligence and encouraged them. For the first time since he arrived at their home Nabiki was finally glad Ranma showed up. If not for him she would never have met Ukyou.

Nabiki began talking about if they should call themselves a couple once the transfer to Furinkan was complete. That was when Ukyou got all serious with her. 

“I’m going to be forward here,” Ukyou warned. “Why do you like me?”

Nabiki felt more than a little uneasy about the nature of the question. It was totally out of the blue. “Why do you want to know?”

“It’s important to me. Do you like me for who I am or what I look like?”

Nabiki thought the girl was supposed to ask that sort of question. “I like you for who you are, not that you aren’t incredibly handsome.”

Ukyou didn’t answer, but rather brought Nabiki in a tight embrace and kissed her fiercely. “I hope you mean that. You mean a lot to me. Whatever happens I just wanted you to know that.”

That set off all sorts of warning signs in Nabiki’s mind. “Is this all about the fight tomorrow? Are you afraid Ranma’s going to hurt you? I might be able to tilt things in our favor, free of charge.” In that one sentence Nabiki realized that she had just admitted to herself she was in love. How had that happened so quickly?

Ukyou shook his head. “It’s not that, but it’s too hard to explain. Like I said, I just hope you meant it.”

No matter how hard Nabiki tried she couldn’t get him to open up, so the two parted company and met at Furinkan the next day; the day that proved to be the most confusing in Nabiki’s life. The fight had gone on, as Ukyou had wanted, but the shock from the discovery that Ukyou was a girl was total. It took nearly a week for Nabiki to semi-recover from it, and even then she was uncertain of what her reactions were going to be when she confronted Ukyou.

Nabiki stopped by Ucchan’s and met with Ukyou. Once the chef realized who her visitor was she closed up the place, allowing the duo the privacy they needed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nabiki found her voice cracking, despite the fact she promised herself she would preserve her usual cold exterior. She cursed Ukyou for somehow getting to her so quickly.

“It’s not the sort of thing you talk about when you’re on a date. Generally, ‘oh, by the way, did I mention I’m really a girl,’ tends to ruin the mood.”

“That was why you asked me about why I liked you. You were going to reveal your true sex to Ranma in that fight no matter what, weren’t you?” Nabiki asked.

“Yes, but I honestly thought I would win, and I thought he knew I was a girl. I guess he really is stupid though. As to asking you that question, it was the only way I could think of to maybe hope you would like me, even though I wasn’t exactly the sort of person you were looking for.”

“You can say that again,” Nabiki replied acidly, then felt a pang of guilt when she saw Ukyou flinch at the statement. She tried to maintain her composure. She needed to know everything. “Were you using me to get in close to Ranma or something?” Nabiki asked, confident she knew the answer.

Ukyou took on a pained expression. “Of course not. I mean, I know your family honor is at stake with Akane having to marry Ranma and all, but I didn’t use you. I meant everything I said when we went out. I really am attracted to you. You’re just so…you. I don’t know how to say it, but in the short time I’ve known you you have grown to mean a lot to me.”

“So you’re bi-sexual?” Nabiki asked.

“Nope. I only like girls.”

Nabiki nearly fell over. What the hell was Ukyou talking about? “Then what’s up with you gushing all over Ranma?” Nabiki asked, surprised at the venom in her voice. “You want the engagement back. You said so yourself. Are you planning on marrying Ranma while having me on the side, or is this some twisted way of trying to keep my family’s honor?”

Ukyou went silent for a few minutes before giving Nabiki an intense look. “If I tell you what I’m really after you have to swear to never tell anyone. Can you promise me that?”

“What is it this time? You had a sex change operation? You’re married to an Amazon? You like animals too?”

“Please, Nab-chan!” Ukyou pleaded. “I’m being serious. I want you to know the whole truth, but no one else can know. You’re the only one I would trust with this, and I want to show that I do trust you.”

Nabiki cursed Ukyou for using that name. Even now she felt her heartbeat pick up from the phrase. No one had ever called her that before, and certainly no one trusted her. “I promise.”

Ukyou was visibly relieved. “First, this is not about Ranma or any feelings of ‘affection’ I have for the that worthless piece of shit.”

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. “You sure changed your tune in a hurry. You were gushing at his ‘cute fiancee’ comment as soon as he made it.”

Ukyou smiled at that. “He made it too easy. I was wondering how long it would take to have him say something that would get me back into his good graces, and he did it within minutes of the fight. Of course my real feeling to the comment was to bash his face in, but I need him too much.”

Nabiki was in shock at the venom in Ukyou’s own voice when talking about Ranma. “If you hate him why are you sucking up to him and pretending to be interested?”

“Oh. I hate him all right.” Ukyou spat. “He abandoned me. He left me by the side of the road like a worthless piece of garbage and made my life hell because of that. Maybe he didn’t know what was really going on, but if he was a true friend he would have found out why I was chasing after him. And if he is so arrogant that he thinks just by saying I’m cute would really get me back in his good graces he deserves to have his face flattened. He should still be on his knees, begging for forgiveness and asking me to marry him right now. After all, it is the ‘honorable’ thing to do for stealing my dowry and abandoning me. But no, he’s playing some sort of game with me and Akane, and I guess those other two girls I hear so much about. Well I intend on winning this little competition. Ranma will marry me!”

“Why are you so bent on having him marry you if you don’t even like him?” Nabiki asked again.

“For the simplest thing in the world: money,” Ukyou saw Nabiki perk up at that. “Look at this restaurant. Haven’t you asked yourself how a mere school girl can own an entire restaurant at her age?”

“I did wonder about that. An inheritance maybe?”

“Not exactly,” Ukyou said. “It’s a bribe.”

“A bribe?”

“From my father. The Kuonjis own a chain of restaurants in Hokkaido. We’re filthy rich now, or perhaps it’s more proper to say my father is filthy rich. You see, as his only child I stand to inherit the entire chain upon his death. Or I would if it wasn’t for the fact he cut me out of his will.”

Nabiki was visibly shocked. “Why would he do that?”

“Because his daughter is a living monument to his shame,” Ukyou spat out. “I was dumped by my fiancé and it was all MY fault. Father made certain I grew up with that fact in mind. He made my life hell too. So now he lets me know last year that I’ve been cut out of the will unless I make up for my dishonor and marry Ranma Saotome. At first I said to myself no way! I found out a few years ago that I prefer girls. It might have to do with what Ranma and my father did to me while I was growing up, or maybe I’d have turned out this way anyhow. We’ll never know since they screwed me up so bad. What I do know is that I do not want to spend my life with a man. I would have stuck with that decision except that the more I thought about it, the more I realized I deserve my family inheritance. It’s mine! I should get it all! It’s what that piece of crap that raised me owes me! So I made a deal with my father. If I marry Ranma I get half the restaurants now. No need to wait for him to die. I can be rich now. Want to know how much I’d be worth?” Ukyou asked.

Nabiki said yes and whistled at the amount. It was way more money then she could ever hope to make.

Ukyou now took a chance and moved up close to Nabiki. “I don’t care about Ranma. As soon as I’m married to him and the ink on the papers transferring ownership of those restaurants to me dries, I’ll get a divorce quicker than you can say ‘I love okonomiyaki’. That way Akane can marry the bum if she still wants to and your family honor will be intact.”

Nabiki absorbed everything that was said as quickly as she could. It was all so unexpected. Still, there was something to be said on her part. “I’ll let you on in a little secret too. I don’t care about the so called ‘family honor.’ There was no way I was going to marry that jerk and I don’t like the idea of him marrying Akane either. He’s insensitive, strings other women along, and treats her terribly. So I’ll help you get Ranma no matter what. It’ll serve him right to get dumped.”

“Thanks.”

There was one sticking point though for Nabiki though. “Where does that leave us?”

Ukyou sighed. “I lied to you about what I was. I want to continue a relationship, but only if you’re willing. If you don’t I’ll understand and still want you to come to me if you need anything. I really do care about you.”

“I’ve never considered a relationship with a girl before. I need time to think about it.” Without another word Nabiki left Ucchan’s and headed home. After a week’s time she came to a decision…

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” As she arched her back in ecstasy, Nabiki delighted in how Ukyou still knew how to push all the right buttons, even after all that time. 

“I’m going to drop some food off to Dr. Tofu.”

“Have fun, Kasumi,” Soun said as he continued playing shogi with Genma.

The two fathers waited ten minutes after Kasumi left before getting out the brochures and began browsing through them. 

“Terick didn’t quite have the effect we desired. I was certain the two would admit their love,” Soun said.

“Unfortunately, you’re right,” Genma agreed as he continued through the brochures. “Ah! Here’s a contender. A lord of a Greek island that’s reputed to be one of the most powerful men alive. It says he’s even beaten Herb twice.”

“Sounds like a possibility. Let’s do some background checks on him before finding out if he’ll be amicable to the idea.”

The plan the two fathers had really was quite simple. Every time Ranma saved Akane from some kidnapper the two grew closer together. The more dangerous the opponent the two grew closer still. So Genma and Soun decided to actively recruit such people. Ki-Rin was the first, then there was Toma and others followed. Saffron was the trickiest due to his tremendous power, but it only took a little convincing since he was quite the practical joker and enjoyed a challenge. He even came up with a convoluted plan and engineered it so he appeared to be young so that he would catch Ranma off guard. Once Ranma proved his mettle in combat Saffron feigned defeat and pretended to revert to his ‘true’ form. And Akane had never been in any danger. Saffron employed a series of spells that made it appear Akane would die if Ranma failed, but in truth would only have entered a deep sleep. Afterwards he even sent a thank you card to Soun and Genma for providing him with such entertainment.

The two fathers hoped the next opponent would be the one to get Ranma and Akane to admit their love. They were starting to run out of potential candidates.

Kasumi had grabbed her bag and a plate of cookies and went directly to Tofu’s office. She watched with an amused expression as the patients bolted out of the office. They always took off like a bunch of scared rabbits when she came calling. It was only a few moments later that the doctor himself came out and started to ask for the next patient. Then he saw her, glasses fogging up the instant he made eye contact with her.

“K…K….Kasumi-chan.”

Kasumi allowed herself a cross expression. “Now, now, doctor. Do you see anyone else in the room?”

Dr. Tofu pointed to a skeleton on his left.

“That’s Betty-chan, doctor.”

Tofu looked down at the ground in shame. “I’m sorry, mistress.”

Kasumi carried a hint of displeasure in her voice. “I am disappointed in you. Go. Prepare yourself for me while I change.” Kasumi watched him open a door and exit the room. “That’s the coat closet, doctor.”

He exited the closet and smiled sheepishly before going to the proper room. 

Kasumi sighed as she pulled all the blinds down and made sure the doors and windows were locked. Everyone should have known the office would be closed as long as she was there, but why take chances? Once finished she began to change clothes, taking out the outfit from the bag she had been carrying. As she began putting it on she wondered what the others would think of her. Undoubtedly all save her father would be shocked. 

She finished with the body portion of the outfit by lacing up the black leather bodice and started to slip on the knee high leather boots with the stiletto heels. Her gloves followed then her spiked collar was put on last. She did a rundown of the equipment she brought with her this time, pulling out a small rider’s crop and examining it. That might be the way to start things off. As she started to head to the back she paused in front of the full length body mirror next to the scale. Carefully she examined her reflection and smiled warmly. Yes, Kasumi did look like her. How would her father react if he saw her now? She had a feeling he just might approve since it would be sort of hypocritical of him to chastise her for it.

Kasumi allowed her thoughts to drift off to the past and how it had all started for her. Growing up, little Kasumi had worshipped the ground her mother walked on. She could do no wrong in Kasumi’s eyes, no matter what she did. Kasumi tried to be just like her. She learned to cook, clean, and sew at her mother’s side. When people told little Kasumi she looked just like her mother she would jump up and down in joy. Hours would be spent in front of a mirror trying to duplicate her mother’s smile, but she couldn’t quite match it. Something was missing.

Things went on as normal until one time little Kasumi woke up in the middle of the night and went to get a drink of water. As she passed by her parents’ bedroom she heard odd sounds coming from within. She had been told never to go in, but the unusual nature of the sounds had been too much for Kasumi to ignore. Curiosity won out as she approached the room and the sounds became clearer. The door was open just a crack, allowing her to see everything inside.

The sight before Kasumi was shocking. Her mother was dressed up in an odd leather outfit with some kind of whip in hand, while her father was on his hands and knees, totally naked. Her mother was in the process of smacking her father on his behind with the whip. At first she figured her father must have done something very bad to merit that kind of punishment. In fact, her father was bawling his eyes out. Kasumi was about to go in to ask her mother to stop when she did so of her own volition. 

“Do you want more, honey?” her mother asked. 

Little Kasumi figured her father would refuse. Who would want to be punished? But her father surprised her by begging for more. That didn’t make any sense to Kasumi. Why did her father want that sort of thing? It made him cry. Then she remembered a conversation she had not that long ago with her mother. Kasumi mentioned that her father seemed to cry an awful lot. Her mother explained that her father cried happy tears, which was a bit unusual but nothing to be concerned about, and that Kasumi would understand when she got older. 

Now Kasumi understood what her mother meant. Right now her father was crying happy tears. It was so nice of her mother to do that for him. What she was watching must have been what fathers and mothers did to one another to make themselves happy. Little Kasumi decided to watch on, intent on learning what she should do to make men like her father happy. After her mother smacked his bottom a few more times she inquired if he wanted to be disciplined further. So that was what her mother was doing. Discipline. 

Her father was enjoying it so much he was practically begging for more. Her mother gave a warm smile to him and retrieved a bottle of some gooey substance and a long narrow object the likes of which Kasumi had never seen before. What her mother proceeded to do with the objects seemed like it should be painful, but her father continued crying happy tears while asking for more. Once they finished Kasumi rushed to her room and lay back down, memorizing everything that had happened.

During the following nights the door was closed, but she could hear her father cry out in joy many, many times. For a brief while Kasumi considered telling her mother what she had witnessed, but knew she probably would have been punished for staying up so late. So she remained quiet and every now and then she would get lucky and the door was opened enough that she could watch. 

Once though, Akane had awakened and stumbled upon Kasumi watching and caught a glimpse of a particularly energetic session that involved her father being tied up in chains. Kasumi realized Akane would not understand what was going on and rushed her to the bedroom. Once there Kasumi explained the what they saw was a secret and not to tell anyone, including their mother and father. Akane agreed, but mentioned she didn’t like her father being bound like that. After that night Akane never mentioned a word of it again.

Then disaster struck and their mother died. Kasumi was the oldest and tried to fill her mother’s role, but she always felt she was never quite up to the job. No matter what she did or how hard she tried she could never duplicate that smile her mother had. Something was still missing.

When the time came and her father was too heartbroken to remove her mother’s things from their bedroom, Kasumi elected herself to do the task. It was heartbreaking in a lot of ways, but it had to be done, and mother always did what had to be done. As she went through everything and packed it up she came across a rather large box that was stuck under the bed. Kasumi opened it and discovered her mother’s outfit and ‘toys’. Looking upon the leather she couldn’t help but try it on. It didn’t fit, she was much too small, but she swore she would grow into it someday. So she took the box and hid it in her own room, waiting for the day she would be big enough to wear it with pride.

As the years passed by and puberty struck, she at last became interested in members of the opposite sex, but the vague hints she would drop to the ones that appealed to her were always met with disdain or rejection. It seemed boys were too appalled by that sort of thing. Perhaps it was more mature men that enjoyed that form of entertainment. She was beginning to give up hope when she noticed Dr. Tofu had started behaving strangely around her. It took only a little probing to discover he was very attracted to her. When she hinted that she would like to ‘discipline’ him, he agreed without hesitation, though she suspected she could have asked him to jump off a cliff he would have agreed to it. That very day she tried on the outfit and discovered it was the perfect fit. From that first time onward, his glasses would fog up and he would lose coherence around her. He really was a joy to discipline. He was responsive to everything, even shedding happy tears for her.

She shook herself out of the reverie and looked at her face. As she gazed at it she realized something; her smile was now identical to her mother’s. At last she had discovered what had been missing all those years from her own smile. She was delighted and quickly went into the room to see that Tofu had indeed prepared himself correctly, for a change. He was on one of the examining tables, the one that could be quickly converted for their personal use, and ready for her. She finished locking up his free hand and caressed his body with the crop, watching him practically cry in anticipation of what she was going to do.

“I’m feeling very affectionate today. I think we should use the gag. After all, we wouldn’t want people to know exactly why your glasses fog up.”

“Yes, mistress.”

Kasumi grinned once more with a smile identical to her mother’s.

Mousse had Akane wrapped up tightly in chains, hanging from the ceiling of the deserted building he was using. 

“At last! You have fallen into my clutches. Now there is no escape!”

“Who said I wanted to?” Akane asked as she continued dangling.

“Why, Ranma,” Mousse began. “One would think you were coming on to me.” He placed his hands on Akane’s midsection and slowly worked his way up. “Ranma, you feel different.” His hands roamed upwards until they settled on her breasts. “Hmmm. Yes. These are smaller than I expected, which is good, since I can tell by feel alone they are perfect.” Gently he squeezed them as he spoke. “Yes, unquestionably prefect.”

Akane’s aura flared. “LET…ME…DOWN…NOW!!!”

Mousse removed his hands as though they had been burned. “Imsorryimsorryimsorry!” he rambled as he released her from her chains, allowing her down on the floor. 

A hammer was in Akane’s hands in a flash. Mousse went down on his hands and knees before her. “Please forgive me! I went too far and should never had touched you. Do whatever you want to me, just don’t hate me. Please!” he began crying.

Akane looked at his prostrated form and tossed the hammer aside while letting her aura disappear as quickly as it came into existence. Immediately she was on her knees next to him, gently cradling his head to her chest. “I don’t hate you, Mousse. Don’t ever think that. As long as you’re honest with me I could never hate you. I just don’t like that kind of touching when I’m helpless. There are…” she hesitated before continuing. “…reasons. I can’t tell them to you now. Maybe another time.” 

Mousse eased his tears. “You mean you forgive me?”

“I’m not Shampoo, baka,” she teased. “Let me show you how much I forgive you.” She began kissing him deeply, passionately, then gently guided him from his sitting position to a prone one on the floor. She moved on top of him and straddled his hips as their tongues continued to intertwine. 

Her lips felt so good. Mousse couldn’t help but remember what fortunate turn of events led up to that moment…

Shampoo was gone, again, off to see the lying Casanova, Saotome. It was the same thing over and over again. Saotome would entice Shampoo in some way, then mock Mousse by pretending to show little or no interest in Shampoo. Then Mousse would get so angry he would attack and Saotome would degrade and humiliate him before his love goddess. Then she would laugh at him for being weaker than Ranma. It was the same blasted thing over and over again. He could practically hear the laugh track playing in his head.

It was time to do something different. Employing a different tactic might garner a more favorable outcome. Frontal confrontation never resulted in anything other than a pounding, but just because he was physically better didn’t mean Saotome didn’t have weaknesses. For one thing he was stupid, as well as arrogant, and had an insufferable amount of pride. That was where Mousse could beat him. All the blind one had to do was outmaneuver Ranma. Hurt him the way he hurt Mousse. And what better way to do that then to do the same thing he had done to Mousse today? He would kidnap one of Ranma’s girls and turn her against him. Shampoo couldn’t be used. Ukyou didn’t quite feel right. Kodachi, well even Mousse would admit Saotome would be relieved if Mousse abducted her. That only left one other. The one he claimed he didn’t like but would rescue at a moment’s notice no matter how difficult it was.

But there was a problem with abducting Akane Tendo. Mousse would need time alone with her to win her heart. Winning her over wouldn’t be a problem, When it came right down to it Ranma treated her like dirt and she hit him for his insensitivity all the time. All Mousse would have to do was lavish attention on her like he did Shampoo. He would be lying to her, naturally, Shampoo was the only one he could love, but Akane wouldn’t know that. After he won her over Akane would be his and Saotome would know what it meant to have a loved one wooed away. Who knew, perhaps it would even serve to make Shampoo jealous. Then she would be his at last.

The abduction went surprisingly well, much better than the first time he tried to kidnap her and ended up with a stuffed pig. It was a good thing he changed his prescription since then. Not that his vision was good, but at least it wasn’t quite that bad. He’d only myopically miss things about one out of three times. 

Akane was alone when he grabbed her. Mousse tried to reassure her that he had no evil intentions, and that he needed to talk to her in private but in a way which she couldn’t leave until he finished what he had to say. She wasn’t happy about it, but relaxed a bit as he made his way to an abandoned building and chained her up and hung her by the rafters.

“I thought you said you wanted to talk!” she snapped.

“I do. Akane Tendo, I have something of the utmost urgency to tell you!”

Akane rolled her eyes. “What is it? A cure for Ranma? A way to take Shampoo back to China and out of my life?”

“No. I just needed to say, I love you!”

Akane’s jaw nearly dropped in shock. It took almost a full minute to recover. “Quit pulling jokes, Mousse. You love Shampoo.”

Here was the hard part for Mousse. “No longer. She treats me like dirt, and at long last I have grown weary of it. All I have ever done is care about her and do everything she asks, yet she rejects me out of hand. I don’t care about her anymore.” It hurt him so much to say those words.

“Y…you’re just saying that because you’re upset. Once you calm down you’ll go back to her.”

“Never,” he declared. “What do I have to go back to? Getting water dumped on me and end up being locked in a cage so she can torment me? What kind of a life is that?”

Akane’s voice sounded flustered. “It does sound bad. Does she really do that to you?”

He was gaining her interest. He could feel it. “All the time. It’s like hell, and only recently have I come to realize that.”

“That’s wrong. She shouldn’t do things like that to you. You do deserve better. Oh how I hate her!”

“Yes. I do. Don’t I?” Mousse found himself feeling a little better about himself. It was nice to hear someone side with him for a change. No one ever did that. Not here or back at home.

“B…but why did you say you love me?” Akane asked, her voice starting to quiver.

“Because I do.” This was another hard part. He had to come up with some believable reasons for this. “You are the only one around here that cares about others. Everyone else is caught up in their own little world about how things should be, but not you. You don’t go around forcing yourself on people. You don’t manipulate others to do your bidding. You always try to be honest and open and do the right thing. You don’t attack others, except Ranma, and he deserves it for the way he treats you. You’re kind and caring, I’ve seen that side of you.”

“You’re just saying that,” she mumbled, her voice not backed by any force. “I’m not really that good.”

“Yes, you are. It’s Ranma’s fault that you think that way. He doesn’t know what a lucky guy he is having someone as pretty and as thoughtful as you as his fiancee. Instead he leads a series of women after him to feed his ego. He doesn’t deserve someone like you. You deserve someone who would appreciate you for who you are, not what you aren’t.”

“You shouldn’t say things like that,” Akane protested

Mousse continued. “It doesn’t matter that you can’t cook very well, all that’s important is that you try to show your affection by doing things like that; it shows you care. But Ranma ignores that and deliberately goes out of his way to hurt you by saying mean things instead of just thanking you for trying so hard. The way he treats someone as wonderful as you is disgusting. I would give my eye for someone to treat me like that, which is why I fell in love with you. I know I’ve kept it a secret, but I couldn’t help myself any longer. You’re too wonderful for me to deny my feelings anymore. I need to be open with you and tell you how I feel.” It was then he heard something peculiar. It almost sounded like a sniffle. Then he heard another. Then it came bursting forth in a deluge.

“WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!’’

Mousse panicked. Somehow his plan totally backfired, though he wasn’t sure how. “Why are you crying? I’m sorry! Please don’t cry.” One thing Mousse and Ranma had in common was a desire to avoid making women cry. Now Mousse felt more guilty than he had in a long time.

“I…I’m crying because you said you love me,” she sobbed.

“Why would that make you cry?” Surely she wasn’t THAT repulsed by him.

“Buh…buh…because I love you too. WWWWAAAAA!!!”

Mousse nearly fell over, stunned. He hadn’t expected a reaction that fast. “You do? When did that happen?” he asked.

Akane composed herself slightly. “Almost from the first day I met you. When you came out of the sky like a white angel and I saw your handsome face I was really attracted to you. But then you started going on about Shampoo this and Shampoo that. All you ever talked about was her, so I just figured you wouldn’t have any feelings for me. Then you mistook a stuffed pig for me. That hurt!”

“Well, I often mistake one thing for another. I have bad vision you know.”

“Yes, but it still hurt that someone I thought was attractive thought I looked like a pig! Then you tried to change me into a duck!”

Mousse felt like crap now. He really had gone too far that time. “I’m sorry. I should never have involved you in my war with Ranma. I’m glad my plan failed. I would hate to see you as a duck too.”

Akane stared at him in shock. “You’re apologizing?”

“Yes.”

“No one ever apologizes to me.”

“Well I am.” And it definitely made Mousse feel better. He should have done so long ago. “After all those things I did how could you still care for me?”

“Because you’re the only one here that is loyal and true around here. No matter what happened or how horribly Shampoo treated you, you never stopped caring about her or telling her how you felt. You are always so open with your emotions that I couldn’t help but admire you. I want to hear a man tell me he loves me. I don’t want to have to assume he does. You’re like that. I always thought that if you loved me not an hour wouldn’t go by that you didn’t tell me how much you cared about me. Ranma’s never like that. He isn’t open about anything.”

“But don’t you love Ranma?”

Akane seemed to deflate a little. “He has his moments when he’s nice, but they’re just that: moments. Most of the time he says mean things to me or doesn’t take me seriously. He never opens up to me and I can’t get in a serious discussion with him. He’s immature. Egotistical. Won’t back off from a challenge. He adores the attention the other girls lavish on him. He never looks at things from my point of view. And then there’s the way he acts when he’s a girl. Usually he’s all right, but every now and then he seems to enjoy it. He’s even worn dresses on more than one occasion. He says he’s only done it to trick Ryouga or something like that, but I think there’s more to it than that. And then there’s when we’re together. I swear he somehow brings out all of my worst attributes without even trying.

“What I’m trying to say is it would never work out. At the best of times I just like him. At the worst of times I hate him. But most of the time I just tolerate him. I could never marry someone like that.”

“What about Kunou?” Mousse offered. “He says he loves you all the time.”

“He also talks about how much he loves his pig-tailed girl in the same breath!” Akane snapped. “How could anyone love a two timing fink like that? You aren’t that way. There’s only room in your heart for only one person.”

Mousse felt himself blushing. It was true. “What about Ryouga?”

“What about him?!” Akane snarled. “He’s a lying pig! He sleeps with me thinking I don’t know about his being P-Chan!”

“You know?”

“Of course. From the first time he came out of the rain with that bandanna wrapped around his neck. It wasn’t hard to figure it out.”

“Why do you let him sleep with you then?” Mousse asked, astounded. 

“To make Ranma angry. I thought he would stop me, but the bastard just let me sleep with the pig! That asshole! Ranma doesn’t give a damn about me! The only reasons I let Ryouga sleep with me now is that because it angers Ranma so much and I love watching that stinking pig, Ryouga, pass out anytime I show a little skin. I know he thinks he loves me, but if he really did he would have told me the truth a long time ago. He’s a coward that won’t come forth about what he is either. And if the day comes that lying pig can finally tell me the truth I am going to laugh in his face and ask him if he ever really thought I could ever love a dishonest piece of pork like him. I won’t lay a hand on him, I’ll just tell him how I really feel. He deserves it for deceiving me all this time. For betraying me, someone he’s supposed to love.

“But you’re different. You would never let someone like Ryouga sleep with me, and you would never lie to me about something like that. You would tell me you were cursed from the beginning. That’s another reason why I fell in love with a guy like you. You would look out for me like you do Shampoo.”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “I would.”

“That’s why I hate Shampoo so much more than the others. She would get on my nerves anyway with her superiority complex, and she can be open in ways I can’t because of what’s expected of me, but the way she treats you is disgusting. You deserve to be treated like a man, not like a piece of useless garbage. You should be cared for because you’re so honest and open. That’s why I hate her so much. She had you and tossed you aside when I would have loved to have someone like you. And now there is! At last there’s someone I can really love who loves me! You don’t know how happy you’ve made me feel.” 

Mousse remained silent for a few moments before speaking. “Akane, I’m going to say a few things you aren’t going to like.”

Akane’s joy faded as rapidly as it arrived. “What?” 

“When I captured you and told you I loved you I was lying. I just said it to win you away from Ranma and hurt him.”

Her eyes widened in mounting horror. “No. Oh no,” she moaned softly and went limp in the chains.

Mousse stopped before the tears began to flow. “Now I…I don’t know. You’ve said a lot of things I never expected. No one ever said they cared for me. Now you claim I’m your ideal man and that you’ve wanted me all this time. I’m not sure how to think about that. I think maybe I actually meant a lot of things I said about you. All of them were true, except the I love you part. You have a lot of admirable qualities that no one seems to appreciate, but I do. I…I really need someone to care about me, but there’s still Shampoo. I know I love her but…” He trailed off before continuing. He couldn’t put that part in words. “I’ve told you all of this because I don’t want to lie to you. I’m going to let you down now. If you want to beat me I’ll understand. I’m used to it.” He undid her bonds and watched as she rubbed her wrists and got the circulation going through them again. 

She gave a flat stare towards him. “What do you want to do now?”

He thought about it. “I’m not sure. All of a sudden everything I thought I knew is all wrong. I’m confused about everything, including how I feel.”

“I’m not interested in someone that wants to try to decide between two women. If you want to have any kind of a relationship with me there will not be any going back and forth. I’m not playing any more games with guys that have more than one woman attached to them.”

“I understand,” Mousse said, then left. It turned out to be no choice at all. For the first time in his life he had the option of having a relationship with a woman who would accept his affections and would return them, or he could continue pursuing someone that had scorned him for a full decade and would most likely continue to do so. There was only one choice to make.

It was two weeks later when he ‘mistakenly’ abducted Akane, yelling out she was Ranma, and took her to a park where he told her how he felt. The tears of joy she cried made him weep as well. They decided they had to keep the relationship secret so Ranma didn’t try to kill Mousse and Akane’s father wouldn’t try to stop the two from getting together. Akane started treating Ranma worse than ever in the hope that he would call off the engagement. That way Akane wouldn’t be the bad guy when she refused to accept it back. 

Mousse ceased his thoughts about the past as Akane detached her lips from his and raised herself up while continuing to straddle his hips. 

“I’m ready, Mousse,” she said softly.

“Ready for what?” he asked, totally bewildered.

“For this.” She started to remove her blouse.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said, and meant it, despite how fast his heart raced.

“I know that, baka,” she said playfully. “I want to do it.”

The smile she gave him melted his heart. As she tossed her blouse aside and started to unclasp her bra he realized just how wrong the fool Saotome was. Akane was no uncute, unfeminine, tomboy. Shampoo’s beauty paled in comparison to the woman astride him. Even a blind Mousse could see Akane was the most beautiful creature in the world.

Ryouga looked to the skies above. He was lost again, just like he wanted to be. Akari was really a sweet girl, but it would never work out between the two of them. It wasn’t just the pig fetish she had, which really disgusted him, it was the other thing that had become obvious to him in recent weeks. It was the truth he had finally admitted to himself. 

He tried denying it for years by pretending to be something he wasn’t, but each time he failed miserably. He now accepted why he didn’t try to do anything with the very willing Akari. He recognized why he passed out at the sight of nude or near nude women. He now accepted the real reason he claimed he wanted Akane yet never made any real passes at her. He could now understand why he continued sleeping with her as P-chan, knowing all the while she would eventually learn the truth and hate him. It wasn’t because he wanted Akane’s attention. No. He had now accepted the real reason he sought out Ranma for so many years. 

Anger over bread? Hardly. Standing him up for their match that Ryouga was late for? That was part of it, but not for the stated reasons everyone thought. It all came down to one thing. The hanging out with Akane. The constant attacks on Ranma. The four years on the road searching for him. All of them were for one thing. All of them were desperate attempts at gaining Ranma’s attention. And why did he want Ranma’s attention? 

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, RANMA SAOTOME!!!” he shouted to no one in particular.

Now that he had admitted the truth to himself and could say it out loud, all he had to do was figure out a way to win Ranma’s heart without freaking him out. There had to be some way. Perhaps secretly locking him in girl’s form would be required. That way all of the girls would leave Ranma alone and Ryouga would be left to pick up the pieces. After all, what other guy would want some girl that had previously been a man? Once Ranma could admit he loved Ryouga the lost one could ‘miraculously’ find a cure and the two could be together, just the way it should be.

Happosai looked back and forth across the plaza once more. With his perception abilities he was confident there was no one around, but he couldn’t take chances. If Tendo or Saotome got wind of what he was about to do his reputation was out the door. As it was he regarded himself as fortunate that the others didn’t already know about his weakness. There was more than enough evidence of it, with the arrival of Kurumi and Natsume, as well as Hinako, though he had covered his tracks there with the stealing the nurses underthings. Still the others should have been able to put two and two together. But his perverted hobbies kept the others from seeing the obvious, and that suited him just fine. 

If the others knew of his real Achilles Heel he would become a laughing-stock. A master that was seen as soft and showed such tendencies would be shrugged off as weak and not worth learning from. Lukkosai and the others he trained with might even be able to use his weakness against him. No, it had to remain a secret. If Ranma or the others found out he could never live it down. 

He made his way silently to the hospital’s back entrance. They would admit him; this was the time of the week he made his appearance. He paused long enough to say hello to one of the familiar orderlies that was wheeling a patient to one of the ORs before making his way into the part of the hospital he was seeking. It took only a moment for him to bounce into the room where everyone was waiting expectantly for him. 

“HI, GRANDFATHER HAPPI!!!” the young children all shouted at the same time.

“A hearty hello to all of you.” He greeted each one personally, ruffling hair and saying how much better the children looked from the last time he had visited. Once finished with the greetings he grabbed a chair and sat in the middle of the room and pulled out his pipe.

“Now, now, Grandfather Happosai, you know there’s no smoking in the hospital.”

“Of course, Nurse Yuki.” Happosai gave a mock sigh as the children all laughed. It was a joke between the two of them. Each time he came pulling out his pipe was the first thing he did after sitting down and the nurse would always chide him while he pretended to be put off. It always seemed to amuse the children that even someone as nice as him forgot the rules just like they did. 

“Now what story should I tell you all today?” Happosai said. Whenever he saw a child in trouble or feeling down he would always try to cheer them up. It didn’t matter who they were, just that they needed help. No one was there to help him when he was growing up. 

As much as Happosai pretended to enjoy his lifestyle it was all a sham. With no one to raise him he had to make it on his own, and in turn picked up a lot of bad habits and tendencies that made him the person he was today, and he hated it. It ruined his chance of a relationship with Cologne, perhaps the one person in the world who had loved him despite his faults. He had few friends, save other martial arts masters, and those were more like rivals. 

No, he was essentially alone with only Saotome and Tendo being anything even remotely like family, and they hated him. But if mistakes were made with him he was damned if he would allow any child to have the miserable life he had. He would do anything to cheer them up and help them try to have good lives. Like when he gave Hinako the powerful chi-draining technique so she could have a normal life. Or the two orphans he had come across in his travels, Natsume and Kurumi. He gave them a purpose and direction to live their lives. Tendo was a good man and could have helped raise them to be good people, just like he had his daughters. But by the time they found the Tendo Dojo and Happosai arrived they had already been a misunderstanding and the two felt the need to set off to the world once more, without the guidance Happosai wanted them to have under the care of Soun. He failed them, but perhaps there would come a time when he could help them once more. They had grown into beautiful girls, almost irresistible in fact. 

He shook his head. It was time to help the children He began telling them a tale which would lift their spirits and perhaps help them on their way to becoming better people. He always made certain the stories he told were about hope, and that the children should never lose it.

Never.

Ranma-chan ran for five miles with the cat attached to the back of her head, screaming out in terror the entire time. As they passed the outskirts of Nerima Ranma-chan ran up the fire escape of a tall, relatively isolated, and deserted building and onto its roof. She made one circuit around the edge, continuing to scream the entire time, then ran to the center of the roof and calmed down. Gently she eased Shampoo-neko off of her head and went to a heating duct. Calmly she detached the grill covering it and reached inside, pulling out a large bundle. She undid the wrap around it and pulled out a gas powered hot plate, a bottle of water, and a purple and pink Chinese outfit. Once the water was heated she used it on herself. Then she placed the outfit on the ground and allowed Shampoo-neko to crawl inside it. Once she was in place hot water was poured on the cat.

It took Shampoo several moments to reorient herself to the world as she made certain all of her limbs were sticking out the proper holes. She turned towards Ranma only to see he had already sat down in a ball, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. She remained where she was until she heard the first gasp of breath. 

“It’s okay, Ranma. You can let it out now.” She was going to wait a moment to see how he would react. It seemed to be bad this time.

A second gasp escaped, then a third that was all too close to the second. It was a bad one. Shampoo eased herself over to him now and wrapped her arms around him. Hopefully he would draw strength from her presence. “It’s all right. We’re away from the others.”

“I hate it,” he whispered softly.

Shampoo thought she knew what he was talking about. “What did she do to you this time?”

“Sh…she hit me,” he was practically sobbing as he said that.

That must have happened earlier in the day. Shampoo wondered what was different about it this time to produce such a result. “She always hits you.” And sometimes he even deserved it, but she was here for support, and that kind of a statement might have some disastrous results at this point. Besides, everyone else dumped on Ranma. She wanted to be the exception.

“I saved her,” he said softly. “Not twenty four hours after I risked my life for her and she hit me just for telling her I didn’t want to eat her cooking.”

Shampoo knew he was glossing over things, he always did that, but after what he had done for Akane just a short time ago that was still going more than a bit far, even for her. “It was wrong of her to do that. She should have thanked you for risking yourself like that and accepted the criticism.”

“She caught me right in the ribs. It’s still sore from where Shoi hit me,” Ranma pulled himself into Shampoo’s embrace. “It was bad, Shampoo. Real bad. There were a couple of spots where he nearly killed me. It was like Saffron, but on a smaller scale, and Akane wasn’t in quite as much danger, but he was vicious. I nearly died.”

“I’m sorry, Ranma.” Shampoo whispered in his ear. “If I had known I’d have helped. I would have even brought Mousse along, but you left without contacting us. There was no way I could have known.”

“I know. And I survived, barely. It just keeps getting worse. I don’t know how much more I can take. They all hit so hard.” He held onto her arms tightly now, savoring the contact and tried to make himself strong.

Shampoo remained where she was. This one was very bad, perhaps the worst yet. More often now it seemed that every time they met he would break down. She understood why, now. He needed the release. Besides, wasn’t Shampoo partially responsible for his current condition? She was far from the sole person responsible, but responsible she was. She allowed her mind to recall the night she first discovered what unintentional damage she was doing…

Shampoo had wandered out of the Nekohanten to enjoy the night air. It was one of the last things left she could enjoy. She threw some water on Mousse and locked him in his cage to ensure the pest wouldn’t bother her. Of course he might have minded his own business, for a change, but why take the chance? If she had her way about it she would have sent him back to China, and if he refused to go she would have put him in a body cast and shipped him herself, but her great grandmother wanted to keep him around and torment him. Sure, he made it easy by being such a moron, but Shampoo’s violent streak didn’t run that deep and she would have preferred he was simply sent away.

But who was she to question her great grandmother’s wisdom? The same wisdom that had forced her into a tenuous situation. A situation that was showing the signs of a strain that threatened to bring everything down around her head. Her great grandmother was getting impatient and Shampoo could only stall for so long before the old woman would interfere again. Shampoo did not want to have to rely upon Mousse to foul the old woman’s plans up, and it would be difficult to get word to Ranma without it looking suspicious. Maybe she should do something to catch Ranma that would look impressive but she could easily doom to failure by fouling it up, just like those idiotic hypnotic mushrooms and other exotic temporary drugs that she had used. 

As hard as she tried she just couldn’t seem to shake the feeling there was no way out. Maybe a walk in the night air would give her some idea. So she strolled along the riverbank, moving quietly so as not to disturb anyone, and tried coming up with some solutions. As she neared a bridge she caught the sound of someone sobbing nearby on the riverbank underneath it. From where she stood at that moment she could not be seen by the person. It really wasn’t any of her business, but curiosity won out as she sneaked quietly up and listened while peeking around the bend and tried to make out who it was. 

The sobbing increased slightly and for the briefest of moments she thought she knew who it sounded like, but that was absurd; he never cried. She clung as tightly to the shadows as she could, trying desperately to see who it was. The full moon overhead was bright enough to mask whoever was under the bridge in shadows. In the darkness she could just make out a silhouette that appeared to be a male and sitting under the bridge. She could make out some black pants at the edge of the moonlight when she noticed the silhouette seemed to be holding a short, but sharp, bladed instrument. The hand moved enough to allow the reflection of the moonlight off the water to cause a gleam on the edge of what was unquestionably a blade. A tanto, if she was not mistaken. 

A louder sob came from the figure as Shampoo now knew for certain who it was, impossible though it seemed. She then saw the figure start to point the blade to his stomach. What was the fool thinking? Shampoo knew she probably only had moments to react and made her presence known by walking into full view in the moonlight. 

The figure reacted almost immediately, standing up straight while holding the dagger behind his back. “What are you doing here?”

Shampoo kept a calm demeanor instead of the bubbly one she usually employed when around him. “Shampoo out for a walk. Now can ask Ranma same question. What you doing here, Ranma?”

He struggled to come up with an answer as Shampoo slowly approached. “Umm. Just looking at the river. Right. Just looking at the river.”

“Oh,” Shampoo murmured. “Then why you crying, Ranma?” Now that she got a good look at him she saw that he looked like a wreck. Dark rings, apparent even in the moonlight, were under his bloodshot eyes, making it appear he had not gotten sleep in a week. His posture was that of abject failure, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Never had she seen him like that. She had never seen anyone like that.

“I ain’t crying!” he snarled. “You were hearing things!”

“Yes,” the Amazon agreed. “Shampoo hear sobbing and crying. That what things I hear.”

“It must have been a kid that was running by. I saw some kid just a moment ago and it was probably him.”

He must have been a real emotional wreck to think that one was going to fly. “Shampoo understand. Was child who was out at midnight all by himself and sound just like you.”

“Right.”

She switched tactics. “What you doing with knife?”

He got a lot more panicky. “W…what knife? I ain’t got a knife. You’re seeing things now too, you crazy Amazon!”

She was right next to him now. “Then you no mind if Shampoo take a look at what behind your back.” 

As she tried to circle around him he kept pivoting, keeping his body between her and the blade. His reflexes were way off since she was able to fake moving left, then turned right and saw the blade in all its glory. Now Shampoo took a far more serious tone. “Why you try to kill self, Ranma?”

Realizing his deception was over he dropped his facade and became angry. “You wouldn’t care! No one cares! Just let me finish what I have to do and you can return home. The old ghoul told me if I die you could go back home without further dishonor. You can’t marry a corpse after all.”

Aside from the shock of hearing Ranma talk like that, a cold voice in the back of her head, the one that sounded like her great-grandmother, told her his death was the last thing she needed. It would screw everything up. God how she hated that voice. She turned to her far more forceful voices in the front of her mind. They agreed vehemently that Ranma should live. She would base her choice on those voices. 

“Shampoo no want to return home because airen dead.”

“I ain’t your airen!” he snarled. “So you don’t got to worry about it!”

“Then Shampoo not want you to die because you is Ranma. Being airen or not airen have nothing to do with it.”

That caused him to hesitate for a moment as he tried to come to grips with what she just said. 

Shampoo had never seen Ranma sound defeated like this. Nowhere near it. He was invincible. Everyone knew that. She took the initiative once more. “Why you try to kill self?”

“You don’t care,” he almost sobbed. “No one cares. Just let me be.”

“No,” she said softly.

“I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!!! LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!!!”

“No,” she said just as firmly as before. “Not unless Ranma tell Shampoo what wrong. If Ranma do that, and Shampoo think reason you want to kill self is good, then no try to stop you.”

He looked at her in open shock of that statement. “You’d let me die?”

“Only if good reason,” she said. “Sometime warrior have to sacrifice self for others or to keep honor. If Ranma have to kill self for those reasons Shampoo no going to stop. Not want Ranma to die, but can respect warrior death. Shampoo will volunteer to be your second.” 

“You’d help me kill myself?” 

“Like Shampoo say, only if it right thing to do. If you not have good reason then Shampoo not going to let Ranma die.”

He absorbed the information, all the while looking at Shampoo in a very confused manner. Eventually he seemed to come to a decision. “Fine. You want to know why I want to kill myself. It’s because I can’t take it anymore. None of it. Not my enemies that try to beat me up because I exist. Not the strangers that don’t even know me that want me dead because I’m good at martial arts. Not my so-called friends that treat me like I’m some kind of object instead of a human being. And not my family, who set up my entire life to be what they want and who promised to kill me if I don’t turn out exactly they way they want. It’s finally all caught up to me. If I can’t have any control over my life at least I can have some over my death! Now go away! The least you can do is grant me some peace and quiet so I can get this over with.”

Shampoo shook her head. “That not warrior reason to die. That stupid coward reason to die. Shampoo no allow that.”

“You can’t stop me.” 

“Maybe, if you thinking clearly and at full strength, but Shampoo think you look tired and no think straight. And you not hit girls, so Shampoo think she can cause enough problems you not get chance to kill self. Wound bad maybe, but not kill.

His voice sounded tired as he began pleading. “I’m exhausted, Shampoo. I can’t fight anymore. Please let me do this.”

“No.” She was running out of things she could say. In truth she was fairly certain he could kill himself if he did try hard, but if he didn’t really want to do it he might hang onto her threat as an excuse to go on. “Why you no tell Shampoo you feel this way? Shampoo be happy to help.”

“Yeah! Right!” he snorted as some of the old Ranma came back in his voice. “You have been so understanding of my feelings and helpful I don’t know why I didn’t go to you first.”

“Ranma, I would help,” she insisted.

“Yourself, you mean.” he said derisively. “You just don’t get it do you? You’re part of the problem. You run around hanging onto me, trying to drug me to admit my ‘true feelings’, and never listen to a word I say. Yeah. You’d be a big help since you’re such a great listener, unless I say something you don’t want to hear, then you’ll ignore it just like you always do. Just like everyone else.”

“You mean you no talk with Akane or Spatula Girl about this?” That was a surprise. She thought he actually liked them, somewhat. 

“Oh, right. Like Akane is so understanding and ever listens to anything I have to say. She just sees me as someone forcing her into something she doesn’t want to do. She reflexively blames me for everything that goes wrong, no matter what happened. And she hits me when I tell it like it is. With that kind of thoughtfulness I think I’ll go over and tell her everything.

“And then there’s good ole’ Ucchan. She’ll listen to what I have to say. Not! She’s almost as bad as you. She may not try to drug me, thank kami, but she manipulates me better than you do. She tries to use our past relationship against me by twisting vague promises I made when I was five around so I’ll do what she wants. Or she sets up Ryouga and Akane on a date or tries some magic like that stupid Tunnel of Lost Love. Did you know when the pervert hit me with that stupid moxibustion point she was originally happy I was powerless? She saw it as an opportunity for the two of us to get married and slipped into one of those stupid daydreams. She was really putting my wishes first and foremost in consideration,” he said sarcastically. 

“I mean, she scares me. She honestly scares me. My father didn’t take her with us so she spends years denying what sex she is and vowing vengeance and tries to kill me. I call her cute once, just once, and she turns all nice and wants to marry me again just like that! Years of changing her life were thrown out the door because I said one word. She’s crazy! I’m not surprised she bombed my wedding. I’m just happy she didn’t try to kill me before that, and kami only knows what’s she’s going to do if I end up trying that again.

“And then there’s my wonderful family. The father who made me into some kind of weapon by ensuring I could never have a life outside of martial arts. The caring he displayed when he kept tying me up and throwing me into pits of starving cats. He moved me around so I didn’t have any roots and no friends. He made it so there was nothing I could do other than what he wanted all the time. I don’t even like martial arts. I hate them! But its all I know, thanks to him.

“And then there’s the mother who loved me so much she let my father take me from her for years on some vague promise that I would grow up to be a ‘man among men’ or she’d kill me. Oh, she may say she wouldn’t do it now, but she sure as hell took that katana with her wherever she went for an awful long time. Now of course she tries to step in like she never missed a beat. And I have to get married to a girl who I don’t even like because they think it’s a good idea and made a stupid promise before I was born. Nice to know my feelings were always the first thing on their minds.”

“You is right,” Shampoo agreed. “They not worthy of your attention.”

“SHUT UP!!!” he shouted. “You’re the worst! At least that laughing hyena, Kodachi, is deluded and can use that as an excuse for her behavior. What’s yours? I understand you have to be here and marry me because of your stupid law. But you just have to jump all over me no matter how many times I tell you I hate it. Then there’s the times you drugged me. You drugged me! How the hell are you supposed to earn my love doing that?! You listen to what I have to say even less than Ucchan. Whenever you turn into a cat you still hang around me even though you know I might go into my neko-ken. And then I’m paranoid that you might go psycho one of these days and decided to make good on that Kiss of Death you gave Akane when you first arrived or that you might change your mind and try to kill me. Thanks a lot for all your ‘help!’ With all that is it any surprise I want to end it all?!”

As his anger died Shampoo saw the depression step in again. She was going to have to do something desperate to shake him out of his suicidal intents. The cold voice in the back of her head made its presence known by telling her it was time to let him in on some truths and to see how he dealt with them “Has it occurred to you I might be intentionally doing all that to keep from marrying you?”

It took him a minute to focus on what she said. “What are you talking about?”

“Let me tell you a little story about a girl from a village in China,” she began. “This girl grew up as a member of a very prestigious family and was expected to carry on the family traditions. Like you, her life was chosen for her and she was trained in every way imaginable. Unlike you she enjoyed the martial arts immensely, it was the other studies she did not like. You see, she was chosen to be the next representative for her generation to led her tribe. There was only one problem with that: the girl discovered at a very early age she did not want to lead. She might have possessed the necessary tools to do it, but her heart wasn’t in it. But that excuse would not wash with her mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother. Three generations of family were damned if the next on line would try to shirk her responsibilities. When the girl tried to remain adamant about not taking that particular course of life, the women of her family made very certain the girl understood the consequences to her would be most severe, and she would be made to serve anyway. So she remained silent after that, realizing there was no way out for her. She tried pretending she was stupid, but even that didn’t work; the family was too adamant to give it up. The girl had to lead.

“Then a miracle happened. The village girl won a tournament and became champion, but during the tournament an outsider girl came to the village and began eating the champion’s first prize. As the winner of the tournament set her eyes upon the outsider girl an idea came to her. If the champion lost to the outsider the champion would have to give her a Kiss of Death and chase her across the face of the earth to hunt her down and kill her. It was the perfect excuse to get out of the village and under the watchful eye of her family members, so she decided to throw the fight.” 

Ranma interrupted at this point. “You mean I didn’t win? You threw the fight?”

Shampoo shook her head. “The champion didn’t have to. The outsider girl caught the champion off-guard and she lost legitimately, not that the champion really cared. The idea of a Kiss of Death for losing a fight is stupid as far as she was concerned, but it would prove to be a useful tool. So she gave the kiss and deliberately gave the outsider a head start. If she hadn’t how would she be able to leave the village?”

“I always wondered why you let us get away,” Ranma mumbled.

Shampoo was delighted to hear the curiosity on his voice. That was the Ranma she knew. “Yes. And the village girl always made sure the outsider was never caught. Oh, the girl would pursue the outsider and make her think the champion intended to kill her, but that was simply to prod the outsider onward and further away from the village itself. The champion could have picked off the outsider at just about any time, but even if she could kill the outsider it would just mean she would have to go back. The village girl was so determined the outsider survived she even waylaid some bandits to make sure the outsider was all right. 

“Eventually the trail led to Japan, much to the village girl’s delight. There was a whole new world before her far away from the responsibilities that were forced upon her in China. Then it got even better. An outsider male defeated her and she could now marry. It wasn’t so much who it was as much as what he represented. She could now stay in Japan. In hindsight it was delusional for her to believe that, and it ended up not mattering because the boy turned out to be the outsider girl. It was that night the village girl learned she could not kill, no matter how much the betrayal hurt. So in anguish she left Japan and went back to China. If the outsider knew her life was in no danger the hunt was over and there was nothing left for the village girl. 

“She returned to China and was punished for the failure to kill the outsider girl by immersion in the waters of Jusenkyou. Eventually the girl told her great-grandmother everything that happened and figured out what was really going on with the boy. So, much to the girl’s delight, she was allowed to return to Japan. There was a problem though, the girl’s great-grandmother went along to ensure success AND to take the future husband back to China. The village girl was not happy about that. The longer she was in Japan the longer she was away from China. So she decided to only make it appear she was trying to win the boy using stupid tricks which were never going to win him. She also made certain none of the other girls got him either. As long as he didn’t choose any girl things would remain as they were and the village girl could stay in Japan. That was all the village girl was really interested in.”

Ranma looked at Shampoo in open disbelief. His whole world had just been turned upside down. “So you’ve been able to speak fluent Japanese from the beginning?”

“No.” Shampoo shook her head. “At first I was just as bad as I sounded. Over time I got better, but I never let great-grandmother know so she’d think I was stupid and maybe she’d give up on the idea of making me leader. I wish.”

Ranma at last was able to absorb everything. “So I was right! You’ve been using me even worse than I believed!”

Shampoo nodded her head.

“YOU BITCH!!! I’M NOT YOUR FUCKING TOOL!!!” Ranma started to glow blue.

That was not good. Given Ranma’s mental state there was a realistic chance he might lose it and lash out at Shampoo, at least hurting and possibly killing her. Nonetheless she stood her ground. “I had no idea what damage I was doing. I honestly believed you were able to take everything in stride. I may not love you, Ranma, but I don’t want to see you, or anyone else, end your life. In a way I sort of like you. You are one interesting boy.”

His glow started to go away. Depression returned, but not like before. The edge that had been there before was now lost. It was obviously not suicidal any longer. “Are you going to tell anyone what happened tonight?”

“No.” Shampoo noted how lost he sounded. He was in terrible emotional shape, and even if he didn’t try to do anything tonight, it was only a matter of time before he snapped again, and the next time Shampoo might not be there to talk him down.

The cold voice inside told her now was the ideal time to bind him to her will. She was going to need allies in the upcoming months and he would be an ideal one. Rather than give into it, she refused to listen. Any choices she made would be based on her conscience, not on using Ranma like she had for so long. 

“Ranma. Now you know how I really feel about you and I know a lot about you. Why don’t we come to a truce? I’m like you and don’t have any friends here.”

“And you want me as one now? How do I know it ain’t some trick?”

Shampoo shook her head. “Only time will tell. But ask yourself this, Ranma. If you were prepared to kill yourself what else do you have to lose?”

He couldn’t seem to answer that one. His face went through denial, anger, frustration, defeat, and finally acceptance. “If I catch you trying to use me…” he let the threat trail off.

“I give you my word I won’t. I’ll throw myself on my sword for dishonoring you if I do that.” The cold voice in her head was silent now. She didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

He seemed to accept that and went back home, alone. A couple nights later the duo met under the bridge again and began talking to one another, as well as venting their mutual frustrations. Plans were made for frustrating the potential suitors as well as Ranma hinting around Cologne that his view in Shampoo was softening a tiny bit. Hopefully that would keep her off Shampoo’s back and prevent her from trying anything dangerous. 

It was difficult to meet away from the others’ prying eyes, but as the weeks passed the duo learned how to get some private time with one another. Once Ranma fully trusted Shampoo they even struck a deal to help him get over his neko-phobia. Shampoo changed into a cat around Ranma, keeping a great distance away, while he became used to her presence. It took almost four months of constant attempts, but his phobia was reduced to the point unless he was actually attacked by a cat or had to confront more than a dozen (or a large one, like a tiger) he wouldn’t panic and run away.

At first the change in Ranma was obvious. At last there was someone he could open up to and talk with. Much to Shampoo’s surprise she found that having someone she could confide in helped ease her burden as well. As time passed she found herself actually thinking fondly of Ranma, it wasn’t love, but there was the possibility that it might become that in time. 

However, after the first few months things took a turn for the worse once more. Attacks against Ranma actually increased and the opposition became more and more skilled. There was also the problem of the two being able to meet. So many wanted Ranma’s time for themselves there were very few opportunities when both of them could meet. Mousse still watched Shampoo like a hawk and Cologne was not much better. And they still had to maintain the appearance of Ranma disliking her, lest things came to a head with all the friends, foes, and suitors alike. 

As the time passed the pressure began to build up on Ranma more and more. Once again he became morosely depressed. The only times that he could be happy were when he was at Shampoo’s side, and even then it wasn’t always enough to shake him out of it.

“Let’s run away together.”

That snapped Shampoo out of her reminiscing. She gave him a pained expression. “We can’t, Ranma. My great-grandmother, Mousse, Mr. Tendo, your father, Ukyou, Kodachi, Akane. None of them are willing to let you or me go. They would hunt us down to the ends of the earth to bring us back or gain revenge against me for taking you away from them. Nowhere would be safe from them. Nowhere.”

His voice began to quiver. “I…I can’t take it much longer. I need to get away from them. To get away from here. Even being with you isn’t enough any more, not with how little time we get alone. Twice a week isn’t enough. I need you,” he pleaded.

The voice inside her head soothingly told her he belonged to her now. She shut it out. Now she had a decision to make. Events were reaching a crux and it was time to make a choice that would have repercussions for her entire future. “How much longer can you hold out?”

He shook his head. “If things don’t get worse, another five months. After that I won’t be able to take it anymore.”

She understood what he was alluding to. He would try ending it all once more. She recognized the signs in him from that night and thought he was being unusually generous. He would be lucky if he could last more than three months. She was going to have to come up with a plan. A complicated one that was going to take months to set up. It was the only chance they had for escaping the Moebius loop they were trapped in. And if the plan failed she would be dragged back to China while Ranma, more likely than not, would die by his own hand. 

“Give me three months,” she whispered in his ear. “Then we can make one desperate attempt to leave everything behind. Can you do that for me?”

He nodded. “I can keep it together for that long. What’s the plan?”

“It’s better that you don’t know, for both our sakes. You just concentrate on dealing with everything they throw at you and I’ll take care of you. Do you believe me?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “Shampoo, can you say it yet?”

The voice told her to lie to him and tell him what he wanted to hear. NO! She wouldn’t do that. She would not treat him like she had been her entire life. “I care about you very much, but we’re under a lot of stress. I won’t let myself fall in love with you until we’re clear of this entire mess. It could still all come crashing down around our heads and if I loved you and lost you it might break me. I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that to happen.”

Surprisingly she saw him perk up a little as a bit of the real Ranma returned. “Well then, I guess we’ll have to get out of this, won’t we?”

She found herself smiling in response. “Yes. I guess we will.” And maybe then she would allow herself to fall for him, but not before. Still, there was one gesture she could give him for encouragement. Something for him as well as for her. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. She felt him kiss back and he did it pretty damn well for someone that claimed he had never done it before. Maybe she would have to sample a little more as added incentive to succeed in escaping everyone’s clutches. He eased her back, still kissing, as he added even more incentive for it. 

Yes. Just a few more months and it would all be decided, one way or another.

Epilogue

(The Tale of the Kunous)

Kunou stared at his fellow kendoists with his ‘intensity’ stare. They had become lax in their training of late and he was going to put a stop to it immediately. 

“All rise!” he commanded. Just as he decided what poem to use to launch into his tirade against the sins of sloth he felt a low vibration emanate from his pocket. Curses! It would happen just as he was about to start. Time to employ the usual excuse for a quick dismissal.

“At last!” he declared as he pointed his bokken to the ceiling of the gym. “I must once again lay my eyes upon the beauteous Akane Tendo and the pig-tailed girl. You may practice on your own.” And with that he took off at top speed for his home.

Kodachi Kunou was in the middle of gymnastics practice when she felt the faint vibration from her earring.

“I can bear it no longer! Ranma-sama, your beautiful Black Rose shall come for you. OHHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!” 

The rest of the girls watched as Kodachi skipped gracefully off, ribbon twirling behind her as she departed. 

The siblings arrived at the Kunou mansion at the same time. Once inside Sasuke met them as they made their way to the center of the house.

“Nice to see you two made it here so quickly,” Sasuke commented as he led the way.

“I would hardly be late for such in important thing,” Kunou commented dryly. “I simply wish I had had more time to help my club members. Their skills are beginning to atrophy without my constant guidance.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Kodachi said. “I was in the middle of gymnastics practice as well, brother dear.”

“Oh how I loathe the act I must portray for the outside world,” Kunou complained as he continued walking. “If only there was some other way to divert suspicion from our activities.”

“Ah, to portray the much thought of deluded Kunou siblings. It is almost enough to make me wish I truly was deranged,” Kodachi said sarcastically.

“We all have burdens we must bear, keiki’s,” their father said as he hurried to catch up to the trio.

Kunou scowled as his father approached. “Must you always play the buffoon, father?”

He held his hands up innocently at the comment. “When you get to my age boy, you tend to enjoy acting a little wild.”

“Wild is not exactly the way I would describe our lifestyle,” Sasuke said as they at last made it to the center of he house. Four security systems were deactivated, the final two being fatally charged ones, as the group of four made their way into the secret rail system built beneath the house. The security systems went back up as they entered the rail car and relaxed as best they could when they took off down the singular track. 

Kodachi noticed her brother looking exceptionally depressed. “What troubles you, brother dear?”

Kunou softened a bit at his sister’s concern. “It is this sham I have to put forth to the world. I know what we do is important and the need for secrecy paramount, but I play such a senseless twit I fear I will never know true happiness again. As much as I use that tomboy, Akane Tendo, to waste my attentions on, and her fiancee, that idiotic Saotome, as another buffer, I cannot help but think how much better my life would be if I could just be normal, like I used to be.”

Kodachi sighed in agreement. “I know what you mean. Pretending to be in love with that water changing man and the constant unbalanced behavior I have to go through with everyone has made my life cold as well. No one likes me anymore.”

Kunou watched as she began laughing, the girlish little giggle that she had always possessed, not that insane cackle she employed to frighten others. It had been too long since he had last heard that laugh. “What is that strikes you as so amusing, sister?”

“I was just thinking of the irony of our situation. We must place a veil over others’ eyes so they cannot see the masks we wear.”

“If anyone knew our alter egos Nerima would be attacked immediately by a Dragon Turtle or some other pleasant engine of destruction. How would you like to live with the knowledge that everyone you grew up with died because of who you are?” Sasuke asked.

“No need to be catty,” Principal Kunou said. “We all know there is no one else that is trusted enough to fill our roles until a new generation of fighters can be trained. Unless you want to leave the world in the enemy’s hands.”

All shook their heads no. They knew what the stakes were, even if the rest of the world could not be allowed to know what role the Kunou family served in its safekeeping. The rail car came to a stop and the quartet emerged. As Kunou made his way to the far side of the chamber his wrist communicator beeped.

“Yes?” He knew who it was.

“I’m already airborne. I’ll be joining you once you’re in the air,” a voice answered.

“Understood.” Kunou turned off his communicator and look to the others as well as their ship. “Time to transform.”

The others took the cue as their wristbands began to glowed and triggered the changes in their outfits. In the blinding light none could see the molecular transformation as their everyday wear became their uniforms for combat. Sasuke seemed to lose weight as Principal Kunou gained it as their forms shifted and they appeared almost as exactly like who they were supposed to.

Kunou now wore the stylized outfit of the codor.

Kodachi now wore the stylized outfit of the swan.

Sasuke now wore the stylized outfit of the swallow.

And the principal now wore the stylized outfit of the owl.

If any other had been present they would have seen the Science Ninja Team Gatchaman before them.

Kunou thought about their situation as they boarded the Phoenix. Two years ago they had been an almost perfectly normal family. Then one day the call came from Dr. Nabu that changed their lives. He and Kunou’s father had been the best of friends, but it was no social call that time. Nabu informed the principal that he was the only one Nabu could fully trust and that all of the Kunous’ help was desperately needed. Nabu revealed to them that all but one of the members of the Gatchaman team, Ken Washio, had been killed in battle with the Galactor. However that knowledge was kept secret from the enemy organization. It was feared that if they ever discovered the truth the Galactor would strike with everything they had and take the earth for themselves.

Nabu knew it would take years to find and train new people that could be trusted to become the new Gatchaman team, so others would have to be called on to fill the roles temporarily. That was when his thoughts turned to the remarkable Kunou family. He knew of the abilities possessed of each member and the fact they were nearly physically identical to the dead members of the team. There was also no one else he could trust to not abuse the potential power the new Gatchaman team would possess, so he begged for their assistance. They accepted, understanding that the role was only a temporary one. To throw suspicion away from anyone that might make a connection between the Kunou’s and the Gatchaman team, the family began to display eccentricities to keep prying eyes away from them.

Emergency training was used and the quartet adapted quickly to the new roles they was given. Nabu was convinced in time that they would be better than the original team was. The earliest missions proved to be the most dangerous, but the four fill-ins did their work to perfection. Just as a new team was almost ready a disaster struck and the Galactor attacked, killing every single one of the trainees. The temporary role became an even longer one, and more acts of madness were required to keep anyone from suspecting the truth.

The Phoenix made it’s rendezvous with Ken’s ship and the groups leader met with his team once more.

“Let me fill you in on the mission parameters,” Ken began. “Kaste is up to his tricks once more. He’s planning to unleash a virus that is designed to kill all of the crops in the American mid-west. It’s up to us to take him down.”

It was another fine day in the life of the Kunous.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

I realize the Kunous’ tale was a more than a little different from the nature of the others, but there had to be something for them and when the idea hit me I couldn’t resist using it. Besides, separating into another post would have been kind of silly since Kodachi uses the title for the story in her conversation with Kunou. Still, let me know if it’s too distracting.

Special thanks to 

Gary Kleppe  
Ryoucilo  
Dr. Wade Tritschler


End file.
